Questions of Ethics in Public Sector Management: The Case Study of Hong Kong

Abstract

Ethics has become more important in public administration in recent years. The problems of corruption, abuse of power, and fraud keep on arising within the government, leading to a decrease in public confidence in the government. Many governments worldwide include ethics in their reform agenda. Hong Kong, having civil servants being internationally recognized as among the least corrupt and the least bureaucratic, is no exception. The essay will examine ethics in public sector management in Hong Kong. It will be divided into six sections: (1) ethics in government and its importance, (2) the rise of ethics in public administration, (3) general ethical practices in public sector, (4) ethical practices in the Hong Kong, (5) weaknesses of ethical practices and its challenges in the Hong Kong government, and (6) conclusion. It shows that the Hong Kong government has faced ethical challenges in recent years, including being difficult to transform ethical principles, the problem of ethical dilemma, the ineffectiveness of ethical mechanism, and the line of accountability being blurred under privatization. A three-pronged approach—ethical leadership, ethical training, and ethics legislation—is recommended for maintaining the integrity of the civil service in Hong Kong.